Ed Sheeran was found not liable in the copyright infringement lawsuit about his track “Thinking Out Loud.”
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After a two-week-long trial in New York City, the unanimous verdict was reached on Thursday (May 4) afternoon. Ed Townsend’s family, the co-writer on Marvin Gaye’s classic “Let’s Get It On,” accused Sheeran of stealing musical components from the 1970 tune. The heirs demanded money from Sheeran, Warner Music Group, and Sony Music Publishing for allegedly copying the track.
According to People, Sheeran embraced his lawyers and fellow “Thinking Out Loud” writer Amy Wadge after the decision was announced. Shortly after, he exchanged words with Kathryn Townsend and hugged her before leaving the courtroom. Sheeran’s wife, Cherry Seaborn, was also in attendance.
“I feel like the truth was heard, and the truth was believed,” the hitmaker told the outlet. “It’s nice that we can both move on with our lives now – it’s sad that it had to come to this.”
Following closing arguments from Sheeran’s attorneys, the singer/songwriter declared that he would leave the entertainment industry if he was found guilty.
“I find it really insulting to devote my whole life to being a performer and a songwriter and have someone diminish it. If that happens, I’m done. I’m stopping.”
While relishing in his victory, Sheeran issued a statement to reporters.
“I am obviously very happy with the outcome of the case, and it looks like I’m not going to have to retire from my day job after all — but, at the same time, I am unbelievably frustrated that baseless claims like this are allowed to go to court at all,” he wrote. “We have spent the last eight years talking about two songs with dramatically different lyrics, melodies, and four chords which are also different and used by songwriters every day, all over the world.
“These chords are common building blocks which were used to create music long before ‘Let’s Get It On’ was written and will be used to make music long after we are all gone. They are a songwriter’s ‘alphabet,’ our tool kit and should be there for us all to use. No-one owns them, or the way they are played, in the same way, nobody owns the colour blue.”
He continued to mention that the “unfounded claims” were fueled by experts in musical analysis. Sheeran declared that the Plaintiff’s musicologist omitted words and notes that “presented simple and different” pitches as melody. This act single-handedly created misleading comparisons.
The platinum-selling artist confirmed that Townsend’s heirs tried to “manipulate” “Thinking Out Loud” to sway the jury. He said that he feels “very grateful” that the seven-person jury did not fall for their attempt.
“If the Jury had decided this matter the other way, we might as well say goodbye to the creative freedom of songwriters,” he said. “We need to be able to write our original music and engage in independent creation without worrying at every step of the way that such creativity will be wrongly called into question.
“Like artists everywhere, Amy and I work hard to independently create songs which are often based around real-life, personal experiences. It is devastating and also insulting to be accused of stealing other people’s songs when we have put so much work into our livelihoods.”
The vocalist revealed that the trial forced him to miss his grandmother’s funeral in Ireland and valuable time with his family. Towards the end of the lengthy statement, Sheeran encouraged songwriters to speak out and advocate for their work.
“We need songwriters and the wider musical community to come together to celebrate and support creativity,” he stressed. “These claims — and the people who manipulate songwriters for their own gain — need to be stopped so that the creative process can carry on, and we can all just go back to making music.”
The initial complaint was filed in 2017, using videos of a live performance of Sheeran using “Thinking Out Loud” and “Let’s Get It On” in a medley. The verdict comes one day before the vocalist releases the final installment of his decade-long mathematical project. – (Subtract) will be available on Friday, May 5.
(Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images)
